Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

Overview

I am sure a lot of us PS2 owners remember are first times playing Metal Gear Solid 2 which had to be one of the best stealth games to date. Now Stealth fans can rejoice again with Eidos latest release of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, a very nice looking stealth game for the PS2.

Gameplay

What really drives Hitman 2 is definitely the storyline, which is definitely a top notch addition to an already good looking game. You play as Agent 47, who has a very long and illustrious career as an assassin. You first see Agent 47 in normal clothes helping out, by working at a Church in Sicily. As you will find through the first few cut scenes, Agent 47 is trying to change his life and confesses all of his wrong doings to the priest. Soon after this the priest is kidnapped, Agent 47 is now forced to go back to work as a deadly assassin to rescue the priest.

This is one of those games your either going to love it or hate sort of thing. There really isn’t much of a variety throughout the whole game. This is a stealth action game, and that’s what you will do throughout the whole game.

To start with the game, which is actually quite similar to the Metal Gear solid type format when it comes to the way you will get and take out missions. You will talk to Diana from the agency, who will help guide you through your missions. You will get a list of objectives at the beginning on the level and some objectives can change throughout the game.

At first Agent 47 doesn’t have a huge array of weapons, you start with a few basic weapons and as you progress through the levels you will find some very nice and interesting weapons. Although I still felt the best weapon throughout the game was definitely the Sniper Riffle, which was my weapon of choice throughout the majority of the game.

One of my favorite features in Hitman 2 was definitely the ability to switch between first and third person viewpoints. I personally liked using the third person throughout the game but having the option available is an extremely nice feature to include.

What makes Hitman 2 so good is the ability to complete levels in several different ways. So there is not one way to complete a mission in fact several objectives have four or five different ways to complete them. So this is really a game you will have to use a little bit of imagination in order to complete the game.

The game is not perfect though. I have two big problems with the game. The first problem being that you will be spending a good portion of the game trying to figure out where to go. There will be several times throughout the game where you really have no idea where to go. I know that this is a stealth game, and I understand that, but I really felt they could have sped Agent 47 up just a tad bit, especially when you have to walk a ways just to get to the place to get to the objective.

I have mixed feelings about the games controls. I felt that moving Agent 47 from place to place was very easy and for the most part the controls work pretty well. The downside is for your weapon setup. I could see on the PC this being a piece of cake but on the PS2 it’s just a hassle.

For those of you who really don’t care what the game sounds like then you probably wouldn’t appreciate all the music throughout the game. The game actually had songs made up just for the game. So right there that should be a plus, and to just top it off it sounds very good. Several compositions were created, which fit perfectly into the game.

Graphics

There are just a lot of positives when it comes to the game’s graphics. It was really hard to find anything bad that I found on the game’s graphics. The character models are top notch. Agent 47 is extremely detailed and well drawn out. He really appears like you would think an assassin would appear like.

What is even more impressive is the level design. Every level has their own unique design that all look very detailed and all are just nice to look at. All the buildings inside and outside have everything you would want to see in a good game.

To top it all off the cut scenes are graphically impressive. So throughout the game you will just see a nice looking game. It’s a shame all games can’t be presented like this one.

Fun Factor

This is really where it’s all about the individual gamer. I found that all the good in the game really was hurt by the downfalls in the game. The camera can be an annoyance at times, and at others can end up getting you killed, and the weapon system is just not a good one for a console game. Luckily there is still a lot of fun to be had with all the different objectives, and cut scenes and the story line involved in the game.

Overall

If it wasn’t for the few problems in the game, this may have been one of the few games to receive the prestige of the perfect score. For all of you Snake fanatics, it’s time to get passed Metal Gear Solid, and for those of you who are ready for another Stealth game this would be a great choice.

Joel Szerlip

The owner and editor-in-chief of Darkstation.com. I've been apart of the website since 2002 and purchased the website in 2010. Owning and running Darkstation is a dream come true. I love video games and I love writing and talking about them even more.

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